Rob Mitchum
@robmitchum.bsky.social
Science and music writer. EIC of @kellogginsight.bsky.social.
Pinned
Rob Mitchum
@robmitchum.bsky.social
· Dec 31
Here's my list as it stands on the last day of 2025. Great year for Chicago bands!
More jamband fan problems: When I log live shows on my listening diary, I use the format "City, State Date". I'm listening to one of the MMW Jam Cruise sets. What location is Jam Cruise? International Waters?
February 19, 2026 at 7:44 PM
More jamband fan problems: When I log live shows on my listening diary, I use the format "City, State Date". I'm listening to one of the MMW Jam Cruise sets. What location is Jam Cruise? International Waters?
I'd like to recommend an interesting jam by an up-and-coming band but it unfortunately happens 20 minutes into a Train cover?
February 16, 2026 at 9:00 PM
I'd like to recommend an interesting jam by an up-and-coming band but it unfortunately happens 20 minutes into a Train cover?
Got distracted by all the interesting writing about the new Beach Boys box set and forgot Love You is one of the worst albums I've ever heard.
February 16, 2026 at 6:08 PM
Got distracted by all the interesting writing about the new Beach Boys box set and forgot Love You is one of the worst albums I've ever heard.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
Good call, sick track:
February 13, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Good call, sick track:
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
Guess who's back?
36FTVQ: Dave's Picks Vol. 57
Steven and Rob discuss the new Grateful Dead live release from Chicago in 1978
open.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Guess who's back?
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
Happy to be back doing one of my favorite things: Talking about Grateful Dead live albums that have "Picks" in the title with my best pal Rob Mitchum.
tinyurl.com/52m65emf
tinyurl.com/52m65emf
36FTVQ: Dave's Picks Vol. 57
Steven and Rob discuss the new Grateful Dead live release from Chicago in 1978
tinyurl.com
February 12, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Happy to be back doing one of my favorite things: Talking about Grateful Dead live albums that have "Picks" in the title with my best pal Rob Mitchum.
tinyurl.com/52m65emf
tinyurl.com/52m65emf
Guess who's back?
36FTVQ: Dave's Picks Vol. 57
Steven and Rob discuss the new Grateful Dead live release from Chicago in 1978
open.substack.com
February 12, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Guess who's back?
This is absolutely going to kill the SEO of my Widespread Panic/Can cover band.
Regardless of what you think of Trump's policies, "Panican" is absolutely elite political communication on the merits. Of course everyone instantly grasps what it means and it just looks so good on the page, but furthermore it's also very easy to imagine how someone would say it aloud.
The White House just sent a "Don't Panic" email. That'll do it
February 9, 2026 at 11:11 PM
This is absolutely going to kill the SEO of my Widespread Panic/Can cover band.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
R.E.M. Live at Circle Pavilion - University of Illinois at Chicago 1987-11-04 https://archive.org/details/ajc02667_rem1987-11-04.aud
R.E.M. Live at Circle Pavilion - University of Illinois at Chicago 1987-11-04 : R.E.M. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
R.E.M.November 4, 1987Circle PavilionUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoChicago, IL, USARecording generously loaned from the Aadam Jacobs Audio Archive.Taper:...
archive.org
February 8, 2026 at 10:37 PM
R.E.M. Live at Circle Pavilion - University of Illinois at Chicago 1987-11-04 https://archive.org/details/ajc02667_rem1987-11-04.aud
Drove the long way home so I could listen to the rest of Hearts of Oak. What an album.
February 8, 2026 at 8:34 PM
Drove the long way home so I could listen to the rest of Hearts of Oak. What an album.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
For your Bandcamp Friday consideration. CD limited yo 200 copies. Will not last long. DLs are forever. chrisforsyth1.bandcamp.com/album/both-and
Both / And, by Chris Forsyth's WHAT IS NOW
3 track album
chrisforsyth1.bandcamp.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:27 PM
For your Bandcamp Friday consideration. CD limited yo 200 copies. Will not last long. DLs are forever. chrisforsyth1.bandcamp.com/album/both-and
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
"Don’t ask a bot what to think, ask a bot how to think.” – Kellogg's Brian Uzzi, on how to avoid short-circuiting the brainstorming process.
Learn more in Uzzi's full discussion on AI and creativity at Kellogg Insight. kell.gg/0ae87c
#KelloggLeader
Learn more in Uzzi's full discussion on AI and creativity at Kellogg Insight. kell.gg/0ae87c
#KelloggLeader
When It Comes to Creativity, AI Doesn’t Always Have the Answer
A classroom experiment shows why you shouldn’t short-circuit the brainstorming process.
kell.gg
January 15, 2026 at 3:49 PM
"Don’t ask a bot what to think, ask a bot how to think.” – Kellogg's Brian Uzzi, on how to avoid short-circuiting the brainstorming process.
Learn more in Uzzi's full discussion on AI and creativity at Kellogg Insight. kell.gg/0ae87c
#KelloggLeader
Learn more in Uzzi's full discussion on AI and creativity at Kellogg Insight. kell.gg/0ae87c
#KelloggLeader
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
I will introduce a RARE 35mm screening of the Bob Dylan/Larry Charles film MASKED AND ANONYMOUS on 35mm at @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social on March 3, then sign and sell copies of my book BOB DYLAN AS FILMMAKER in the lounge afterwards. Chicago Dylanheads come thru! musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-ev...
Masked and Anonymous
In a fictional America caught up in a civil war that is tearing the nation apart, a benefit concert is being organized. A traveling troubadour named Jack Fate is sprung from jail by his scheming forme...
musicboxtheatre.com
February 5, 2026 at 12:15 AM
I will introduce a RARE 35mm screening of the Bob Dylan/Larry Charles film MASKED AND ANONYMOUS on 35mm at @musicboxtheatre.bsky.social on March 3, then sign and sell copies of my book BOB DYLAN AS FILMMAKER in the lounge afterwards. Chicago Dylanheads come thru! musicboxtheatre.com/films-and-ev...
Holy crap, they Grayfolded The Diamond Sea?!?
February 4, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Holy crap, they Grayfolded The Diamond Sea?!?
Tfw it’s a slow FOTD
February 4, 2026 at 2:41 AM
Tfw it’s a slow FOTD
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
The entire cities of Amsterdam (red), Paris (blue), and Barcelona (purple) can fit inside Chicago.
All borders use the same geographic scale (1:175000). The European cities have been rotated and/or flipped, but not resized.
All borders use the same geographic scale (1:175000). The European cities have been rotated and/or flipped, but not resized.
February 2, 2026 at 9:59 PM
The entire cities of Amsterdam (red), Paris (blue), and Barcelona (purple) can fit inside Chicago.
All borders use the same geographic scale (1:175000). The European cities have been rotated and/or flipped, but not resized.
All borders use the same geographic scale (1:175000). The European cities have been rotated and/or flipped, but not resized.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
omg, @sartorialpsychic.bsky.social of the deadhead style archive not only found someone with an original keith haring grateful dead shirt from '77 but turned up another piece of keith haring dead art & the story behind it. (more at the link & also in "heads"!) www.instagram.com/p/DUHjArljC9_
January 30, 2026 at 4:09 PM
omg, @sartorialpsychic.bsky.social of the deadhead style archive not only found someone with an original keith haring grateful dead shirt from '77 but turned up another piece of keith haring dead art & the story behind it. (more at the link & also in "heads"!) www.instagram.com/p/DUHjArljC9_
I'd like to meet the other person who named SML as "Best Jammy Non-Phish Artist" in @guyforget.bengreenfield.com's poll, but I suspect it was just Ben himself.
The State of Phish
...
phish.net
January 29, 2026 at 5:51 PM
I'd like to meet the other person who named SML as "Best Jammy Non-Phish Artist" in @guyforget.bengreenfield.com's poll, but I suspect it was just Ben himself.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
The way I presented that link might make it look like I'm the one who wrote it (sorry); in fact, it's by Vinnie Sperrazza, who is just about to begin serializing on his newsletter a history of drumming. Excited for it!
vinniesperrazza.substack.com/p/chapter-on...
vinniesperrazza.substack.com/p/chapter-on...
Chapter One drops on Monday
I'll be writing furiously til the last minute.
vinniesperrazza.substack.com
January 26, 2026 at 4:36 PM
The way I presented that link might make it look like I'm the one who wrote it (sorry); in fact, it's by Vinnie Sperrazza, who is just about to begin serializing on his newsletter a history of drumming. Excited for it!
vinniesperrazza.substack.com/p/chapter-on...
vinniesperrazza.substack.com/p/chapter-on...
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
Postdoc openings at Kellogg/Northwestern!
Review begins Feb 15 (rolling until filled).
Apply / details: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-re...
Review begins Feb 15 (rolling until filled).
Apply / details: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-re...
Join the CSSI Team
www.kellogg.northwestern.edu
January 23, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Postdoc openings at Kellogg/Northwestern!
Review begins Feb 15 (rolling until filled).
Apply / details: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-re...
Review begins Feb 15 (rolling until filled).
Apply / details: www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-re...
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
🚨 Phish Fan Survey 🚨
I’m conducting a survey of Phish fans, covering everything from your favorite jam of 2025 to most-desired bustouts and beyond. Please participate and share in your group chats, Facebook groups and wherever else you nerd out about Phish.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I’m conducting a survey of Phish fans, covering everything from your favorite jam of 2025 to most-desired bustouts and beyond. Please participate and share in your group chats, Facebook groups and wherever else you nerd out about Phish.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Phish Fan Survey - January 2026
Thank you so much for participating in this survey! Your answers will be confidential, unless you say at the end that you want them not to be.
The survey will close on Sunday, Jan 26 at 11:59 PT. Res...
docs.google.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:16 PM
🚨 Phish Fan Survey 🚨
I’m conducting a survey of Phish fans, covering everything from your favorite jam of 2025 to most-desired bustouts and beyond. Please participate and share in your group chats, Facebook groups and wherever else you nerd out about Phish.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I’m conducting a survey of Phish fans, covering everything from your favorite jam of 2025 to most-desired bustouts and beyond. Please participate and share in your group chats, Facebook groups and wherever else you nerd out about Phish.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year.
That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.
A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.
A short 🧵
That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.
A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.
A short 🧵
Exclusive: key NIH review panels due to lose all members by the end of 2026
Thirteen of the agency’s advisory councils, which must review grant applications before funding is awarded, are on track to have no voting members.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 7:46 PM
🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year.
That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.
A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.
A short 🧵
That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027.
A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications.
A short 🧵
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
“If there is a middle ground between Cluster & Eno, Terry Riley’s Shri Camel, and Yo La Tengo’s There’s a Riot Going On, it’s somewhere nearby.“
Coming in March c/o @intlanthem.bsky.social.
Coming in March c/o @intlanthem.bsky.social.
Extra Stars, by Gregory Uhlmann
14 track album
intlanthem.bandcamp.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:41 PM
“If there is a middle ground between Cluster & Eno, Terry Riley’s Shri Camel, and Yo La Tengo’s There’s a Riot Going On, it’s somewhere nearby.“
Coming in March c/o @intlanthem.bsky.social.
Coming in March c/o @intlanthem.bsky.social.
Reposted by Rob Mitchum
recorded 60 years ago today in New York, with Michael Bloomfield & most of The Band. one of the most frustrating studio breakdowns ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhpz...
Bob Dylan - She's Your Lover Now (Studio Outtake - 1966 - Official Audio)
YouTube video by BobDylanVEVO
www.youtube.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:57 PM
recorded 60 years ago today in New York, with Michael Bloomfield & most of The Band. one of the most frustrating studio breakdowns ever. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhpz...